Boat accidents off Italy’s coast
Dozens of missing people after fleeing across the Mediterranean
17.06.2024, 19:45
Two boats get into distress off the Italian coast. According to security forces, 51 people are rescued, but for 11 more, help comes too late. Meanwhile, the coast guard is searching for around 50 missing people.
At least eleven migrants have died in two boat accidents in the Mediterranean. According to the German aid organization Resqship and the Italian coast guard, the boats got into distress off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa and the southern Italian region of Calabria. Rescue workers were also searching for dozens of missing people.
According to Resqship, the crew of the motor sailing ship “Nadir” rescued 51 people from a wooden boat between Libya and Lampedusa. According to the information, there were also ten dead people in the lower deck of the boat, which was already filled with water. Two of the rescued people were unconscious and, according to the aid organization, urgently need medical treatment on land.
The Italian coast guard said it rescued twelve people from a sailing boat off the coast of Calabria. One passenger died during the rescue operation. As the Italian news agency Ansa reported, the rescue workers were also searching for around 50 missing people who, according to survivors, had fallen overboard.
According to the coast guard, the sailing boat probably came from Turkey. French sailors discovered the shipwrecked people 120 nautical miles off the coast and alerted the coast guard. The rescued people were transferred to a merchant ship and then to a coast guard ship, which took them to the port of Roccella Jonica.
The coast guard and the EU border protection agency Frontex continued the search in the afternoon. The coast guard has not yet provided any information on the number of missing people.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the central Mediterranean is one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world. According to the IOM, 3,155 people died while fleeing across the Mediterranean in 2023 alone.